By disrupting the flow of a fluid over a surface, generally by disrupting what would otherwise be laminar flow along the surface into turbulent flow, a turbulator increases the rate of heat exchange between the fluid and the surface. Turbulators are conventionally provided in turbine applications to aid in the cooling of turbine components during service.
A turbulator may be formed in any of a number of different ways, depending on the application, the materials involved, and the contour of the surface. Prefabrication of an article having a surface with one or more turbulators may provide the turbulators with a high degree of precision in their shape and location but may significantly increase the production cost and/or the production time of the article.
Formation of a weld turbulator on a surface by welding after fabrication of the surface may be less costly than prefabrication, but may require more time, allow for less precision in the shape and location of the turbulator, and may be difficult to form for certain surface contours. For example, for a weld turbulator formed by metal/inert-gas (MIG) welding, the height of a weld turbulator obtainable for a given weld turbulator width in a single pass formation of the weld turbulator may be insufficient for certain applications.